Systems and methods for use in network interactions

ABSTRACT

Disclosed are exemplary embodiments of systems and methods for facilitating a transaction for the purchase of a product through an unattended vendor. One exemplary method includes capturing a facial image of a user and identifying the user based on the captured facial image. The method then includes compiling a pre-authorization request including credential associated with an account for the user and a first amount and, upon receipt of an approval of the request, manipulating a locking mechanism coupled to a container associated with the unattended vendor to permit access by the user to products included in the container. The method further includes capturing an image of a product removed from the container, identifying the product based on the image, and compiling an authorization request for purchase of the product based on the credential and a second amount associated with the price of the removed product.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application claims the benefit of, and priority to, U.S.Provisional Application No. 62/925,034 filed on Oct. 23, 2019. Theentire disclosure of the above application is incorporated herein byreference.

FIELD

The present disclosure generally relates to systems and methods for usein facilitating network interactions, with unattended terminals (orterminal devices).

BACKGROUND

This section provides background information related to the presentdisclosure which is not necessarily prior art.

Users are known to purchases products (e.g., goods, services, etc.)through vendors. It is also known for the vendors to use employees tomanage receipt of payment from users for the purchase of such products,and to manage delivery of the purchased products to users when thepayment is confirmed. Further, unattended vending machines are sometimeused by the vendors at locations where maintaining employees may not befeasible or economical, whereby users can provide a set amount of fundsto the vending machines for selected products and the vending machinesthen dispense the selected products (e.g., beverages, etc.) to theusers.

DRAWINGS

The drawings described herein are for illustrative purposes only ofselected embodiments and not all possible implementations, and are notintended to limit the scope of the present disclosure.

FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary system of the present disclosuresuitable for use in facilitating transactions through unattendedvendors;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a computing device that may be used in theexemplary system of FIG. 1 ; and

FIG. 3 is an exemplary method, which may be implemented in the system ofFIG. 1 , for use in facilitating a transaction for the purchase of aproduct by a user through an unattended vendor, where the transaction isfunded by a payment account associated with the user.

Corresponding reference numerals indicate corresponding parts throughoutthe several views of the drawings.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Exemplary embodiments will now be described more fully with reference tothe accompanying drawings. The description and specific examplesincluded herein are intended for purposes of illustration only and arenot intended to limit the scope of the present disclosure.

In purchasing products from vendors, users often present payment cardsto the vendors, where the payment cards are then swiped or otherwisetapped to provide payment credentials to the vendors for the userspayment accounts (for funding for transactions for the products). Onceaccepted, attendants at the vendors then deliver the purchased productsto the users. It is costly, though, to employ the attendants in order toconfirm the transactions and deliver products to users once payment iscompleted.

Uniquely, the systems and methods herein provide for unattended vendors,whereby recognition of users initiating transactions for selectedproducts may be performed through images associated with theinteractions by the user and the resulting transactions. In particular,when a user approaches an unattended vendor, an image (or otherbiometric) of the user is captured and the user is identified. Onceidentified, a pre-authorization request for a transaction with thevendor for a selected product(s) is generated and submitted to a paymentnetwork. And, upon approval of the request, a container associated withthe vendor is automatically made accessible to the user (withoutinteraction from a human attendant associated with the vendor) to permitthe user to retrieve the selected product(s) to be purchased. Inconnection therewith, images of the product(s) are also captured toidentity the product(s) and number of product(s). Thereafter, atransaction request for the purchase of the product(s) is submitted, andlinked to the pre-authorization request, whereby the user pays for theproduct(s) removed from the vendor container. In this manner, anunattended vendor may offer products for sale to users, whereby theusers, when interacting with the unattended vendor, are identifiedthrough biometrics and access to selected products is provided, withoutprior identification of any specific products to be purchased by theusers (e.g., until after the pre-authorization request, etc.).

FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary system 100, in which one or more aspectsof the present disclosure may be implemented. Although, in the describedembodiment, the system 100 is presented in one arrangement, otherembodiments may include the system 100 arranged otherwise, depending,for example, on processing of transactions, types of unattended vendorsimplemented in the system, types of vendor containers and/or terminaldevices involved in the transactions, types of payment devices used inthe transactions, etc.

As shown in FIG. 1 , the system 100 generally includes a vendor 102associated with an event 104, an acquirer institution 106 associatedwith the vendor 102, a payment network 108, and an issuer institution110, each coupled to (and in communication with) network 112. Thenetwork 112 may include, without limitation, a wired and/or wirelessnetwork, a local area network (LAN), a wide area network (WAN) (e.g.,the Internet, etc.), a mobile network, and/or another suitable publicand/or private network capable of supporting communication among two ormore of the illustrated parts of the system 100, or any combinationthereof. In one example, the network 112 includes multiple networks,where different ones of the multiple networks are accessible todifferent ones of the illustrated parts in FIG. 1 . For instance, thenetwork 112 may include a private transaction network made accessible bythe payment network 108 to the acquirer institution 106 and the issuerinstitution 110 and, separately, a public network (such as the Internet)through which the vendor 102 communicates with other devices such as,for example, a terminal device 114 (broadly, a terminal) (also referredto as a terminal computing device) associated with the vendor 102, etc.

In the system 100, the vendor 102 offers products (e.g., goods,services, etc.) for sale to users, such as user 116, at the event 104.The event 104 may include a sporting event (e.g., a soccer game, abaseball game, a football game, a hockey game, etc.), a concert, amusical or theatrical performance, a festival, a fair, a carnival, amovie cinema, a seminar, a conference, an exercise facility, or otherevent in which people attend the event for purpose of education,entertainment, exercise, etc. The event 104 will most often includeattendance from a number of users for a defined interval, but may alsoinclude a location, such as a shopping mall, a park, etc. where vendorsmay also be located to offer products for sale. The event 104 may beattended by hundreds or thousands (or more) of users during a time ofthe event (e.g., during a soccer game, etc.), or potentially a hundredusers or less over an extended period of time (e.g., such as a park,etc.). As indicated by the dotted lines in FIG. 1 , the vendor 102 isincluded or disposed at the event 104, for example, which is describedas a sporting event at a stadium in this embodiment. It should beappreciated that for a given event, such as event 104, numerous vendors(similar to vendor 102) will be present at the event 104 to offerproducts for sale.

The vendor 102 includes the terminal device 114, a container 118, alocking mechanism 120 for the container 118 (e.g., to secure thecontainer 118 and products therein, etc.) and at least one camera 122.In particular, the terminal device 114 is configured to initiatepre-authorization and authorization request for transactions involvingthe vendor 102 by users, via payment accounts associated with the users(e.g., via a payment account associated with the user 116 and issued tothe user 116 by the issuer institution 110, etc.). The container 118 isdisposed and configured to hold one or more products for sale to users.For example, the container 118 may include a refrigerator havingmultiple different types of beverages therein, or a warmer configured tohold various food pro and keep the various food products warm, or acombination thereof. While described as food products in this example,the container 118 may be configured to hold various other products inother embodiments (e.g., clothing, electronic devices, etc.). Thelocking mechanism 120 is coupled to the container 118 and is incommunication with the terminal device 114, whereby the lockingmechanism 120 is configured to unlock and permit access to the container118 or to lock and inhibit access to the container 118, generally at thedirection of the terminal device 114, etc.

The camera 122 is disposed on or about (or around or in the vicinity of)the container 118, such that the container 118 (or at least a portion ofthe container 118 or a user interacting with the container 118) isviewable by the camera 122. In particular, the camera 122 is angledand/or positioned to view the user 116, for example, interacting thevendor 102 and the product(s) removed from the container 118. As such,the camera 122 may include a series of cameras (e.g., multiple cameras,etc.), with one of the cameras located at various positions around thevendor 102 to improve the images and/or angle of the images of the user116 and/or the products, etc. In other embodiments, the vendor 102 mayinclude a biometric reader (e.g., a fingerprint scanner, anotherbiometric reader, etc.), whereby the biometric reader may capture abiometric of the user 116 for use in identifying the user 116 asdescribed herein (e.g., instead of the camera 122, in addition to thecamera, etc.).

With continued reference to FIG. 1 , the system 100 includes a hub 124,which is configured by executable instruction to operate as describedherein. The hub 124 may be a standalone part of the system 100, asgenerally illustrated in FIG. 1 , and is configured to communicate withthe terminal device 114 (and other terminal devices, as applicable), forexample, via the network 112. Alternatively, the hub 124 may be disposedat the event 104 and/or at the payment network 108 (as indicated by thedotted lines in FIG. 1 ), or otherwise, yet still be in communicationwith the terminal device 114 (and other terminal devices, as applicable)via the network 112. The hub 124 is configured to expose a website ornetwork-based application (not shown) as a manner of interacting withthe user 116 (e.g., via a smartphone or other communication deviceassociated with the user, whereby the user 116 may access thenetwork-based application at his/her communication device; etc.). Assuch, the user 116 initially registers with the hub 124, via thenetwork-based application, to enable transactions with the unattendedvendor 102 at the event 104. In particular, the user 116 may provide aname, an address, a phone number, an email address, etc. to the hub 124as part of such registration. Importantly, the user 116 also provides apayment account number (PAN) or other credential associated with thepayment account issued to the user 116 by the issuer institution 110,etc., to the hub 124, either directly or indirectly (e.g., provisionedby a token service associated with the payment network 108, etc.). Theuser 116 further provides the hub 124 will a facial image (e.g., aselfie from a smartphone or other communication device, etc.) or otherreference biometric specific to the user 116. The facial image (or otherreference biometric) may then be used as a basis for comparison ofsubsequently received images of the user 116 in identifying the user 116as registered to the hub 124.

In response to the information provided by the user 116, the hub 124 isconfigured to generate a user profile for the user 116 and store thesame in memory associated therewith (e.g., in a Blockchain datastructure in order to secure a digital identity associated with the user116 as it may relate to the data provided by the user 116 duringregistration (e.g., in an immutable manner, etc.), etc.). In thismanner, the user is registered to the hub 124. In various embodiments,as part of such registration (or as part of later updating the userprofile for the user 116), the user 116 may also provide (e.g., assolicited by the hub 124, etc.), or may be assigned by the hub 124, averifiable ID or passcode that may be employed by the user 116 (e.g., inaddition to a pre-authorization request, etc.), to unlock the container118 at the vendor 102 and access products within the container 118 whenthe products within the container (or at least some of the products inthe container 118) require age verification to purchase (e.g., alcohol,etc.).

In turn, the hub 124 is configured to assign the user profile for theuser 116 to a local group of vendors associated with the mailing addressof the user 116 (e.g., at local stadiums, forums, etc. based on theuser's address; etc.). Once assigned, the hub 124 is configured toprovide the user profile, or part thereof, to one or more of the vendorsassociated with the local group of vendors, including the vendor 102 inthis example. In so doing, the vendor 102, and more particularly, theterminal device 114, is configured to store the received user profile inmemory as part of a local group of users (i.e., as part of a compilationof user profiles for users that are local to the vendor 102). The userprofile is also retained in a global group of registered users at thehub 124. That said, the user 116 may subsequently access the profile andmake updates or, potentially, request the profile be provided to othervendors not in the local group of vendors (e.g., when the user 116 istraveling, etc.). It should be appreciated that the user profile may beshuffled between groups of vendors and/or groups of users depending ontransactions attributed to the user 116 or the user profile, asdescribed below. It should also be appreciated that vendor profiles mayfurther be compiled and stored for vendors in the system 100, includingten vendor 102. The vendor profile for the vendor 102 may include, forexample, a listing of product(s) offered for sale at the vendor 102 and,potentially, reference images of the products, etc. The vendor profileis stored at the vendor 102, and specifically, within the terminaldevice 114, and also, potentially, the hub 124.

Given the above, once the user 116 is registered with the hub 124, theuser 116 approaches the vendor 102 at the event 104, for example, topurchase one or more products included in the container 118. Inresponse, the terminal device 114 is configured to capture, by thecamera 122, an image of the user 116 (or other suitable biometric). Theterminal 14 is configured to identify the user 116 from the capturedimage (or other biometric), and to identify the user profile associatedwith the user 116 in memory therein, i.e., in the local group of users.In identifying the user 116, the terminal device 114 may be configuredto do so by a machine learning algorithm and/or artificial intelligencerelated to biometric recognition, including facial image recognition,fingerprint recognition, etc. However, upon capturing the image of theuser 116, if the user 116 is not identified in the local group of users,the terminal device 114 is configured to interact with the hub 124 toidentify the user based on the captured image (or biometric) fromamongst the other user profiles stored at the hub 124, for instance, todetermine if the user 116 is registered but included in a differentgroup of users or in the global group of users. It should be understoodthat the multi-level identification of the user 116 (e.g., local, thenglobal, etc.) may provide significant efficiencies as a local groupcould include one hundred or one thousand, or more registered users,while a global group of users may include hundreds of thousands ofregistered users, thereby reducing comparisons involved inidentification when a user is recognized from the local group.

Once the user 116 is identified, the terminal device 114 is configuredto compile a pre-authorization request for a transaction by the user116, directed to the user's payment account (as included in the userprofile for the user 116). The pre-authorization request may include anamount reasonable in view of the products offered for sale by the vendor102 (e.g., $100, $200, $350, etc.), but may not be specific to anyparticular product. The terminal device 114 is configured to then submitthe pre-authorization request to the acquirer institution 106, which isassociated with the vendor 102 in that the acquirer institution 106 mayissue an account to the vendor 102 for use in receiving funds forproducts purchased from the vendor 102. In turn, the acquirerinstitution 106 is configured to transmit the pre-authorization requestto the issuer institution 110 (associated with the use's account), viathe payment network 108 (along path A in FIG. 1 ). Upon receipt of thepre-authorization request, the issuer institution 110 is configured toapprove or decline the request. And, in response, the issuer institution110 is configured to compile a pre-authorization reply, indicating thesame, and transmit the pre-authorization reply to back to the terminaldevice 114, via the payment network 108 and the acquirer institution106.

Upon receipt of the pre-authorization reply, if declined, the terminaldevice 114 is configured to indicate the same to the user 116. However,if approved, the terminal device 114 is configured to toggle orotherwise manipulate the locking mechanism 120 to allow access to thecontainer 118. The user 116 is then permitted to open a door, cover,etc. (or the door, cover, etc. is configured to automatically open), andto pull one or more products from the container 118 before closing thedoor, cover, etc. (or before the door, cover, etc. automatically closes,etc.). During the user's actions, or when the cover, door, etc., isclosed, the terminal device 114 is configured to capture images of theproduct(s) pulled from the container 118 (via the camera 122), and totoggle or otherwise manipulate the locking mechanism 120 to again securethe container 118. The terminal device 114 is configured to thenidentify the product(s), by type and count, removed (or selected) by theuser 116 based on the captured images (and/or other suitable means(e.g., based on RFID tags associated with the products, computerreadable indicia scanned by the vendor 102 as the products are removed,weight sensors associated with the container 118, etc.) and to display aprice for the transaction to the user 116.

In turn, the terminal device 114 is configured to compile a paymentrequest for the products removed from the container 118 (again using thepayment account credential from the user profile for the user 116),including the total amount for the product(s), and to submit the same(e.g., as an authorization request, etc.) to the to the acquirerinstitution 106. The acquirer institution 106 is configured to transmitthe request to the issuer institution 110, via the payment network 108(again along path A in FIG. 1 ). And, the issuer institution 110 isconfigured to record the transaction to the payment account of the user116, whereby the credit and/or balance associated with the paymentaccount is reduced by the amount of the transaction. Here, thepre-authorization reply generated and transmitted by the issuerinstitution 110 is the approval for the transaction. As such, in thisexample, a further authorization reply (in response to the transactionrequest (or authorization request)) may not be generated by the issuerinstitution 110 and/or transmitted by the issuer institution 110 back tothe terminal device 114 of the vendor 102. Alternatively, the issuerinstitution 110 may generate an authorization reply (in response to thetransaction request (or authorization request)), and transmit the sameback to the terminal device 114 of the vendor 102, whereby the terminaldevice 114 may then display the approval/confirmation to the user 116 inconnection with completing the transaction/interaction (e.g., asgenerally described in method 300, etc.). The transaction may thenrequire, optionally, an input from the user 116 at the terminal device114, or otherwise, to proceed in the transaction. That said, the user116 may be provided an option at registration for the pre-authorizationreply, when associated with approval, to operate as the approval for thesubsequent transaction, or an option to always show a confirmation onpurchase (whereby a subsequent authorization request for the transactionwill result in an authorization reply authorizing/confirming thetransaction, etc.). In various embodiments, the option for thepre-authorization reply to operate as the approval for the subsequenttransaction may be a default setting for the user 116 in the userprofile, etc.

In addition to the above, the terminal device 114 is configured tonotify the hub 124 of the transaction, whereby the hub 124 is configuredto compile transaction data for transaction by the user and store thesame in the user profile for the user 116 (such that the user profilemay include a transaction record for the user 116 for transactionsperformed at the vendor 102 and/or at unattended vendors in general).The hub 124 is also configured to compile the transaction data for thetransaction with transaction data for other registered users interactingwith the vendor 102 (whereby the compiled data may then be particular totransactions at the vendor 102), as well as to other groups of usersand/or vendors (whereby the compiled data may then further be particularto one or more groups of vendors, users, etc.). Based on the transactionand other transactions by the user 116, the hub 124 is configured toadjust the groups to which the user profile for the user 116 isassigned, as needed. For example, where the user 116 lives in region A,but attends multiple events in region B, the use profile for the user116 may be added to the local group for region B to improve theefficiency of recognizing the user 116 at events in region B. Likewise,where the user 116 lives in region A, but attends only events in regionB, the use profile for the user 116 may be removed from the local groupfor region A to improve the efficiency of recognizing other users atevents in region A. In this manner, the assignment of the user profileto groups over time may be based on local transactions and the frequencyof the transactions at the respective vendors.

With that said, alternatively in the system 100, when a user attempts tointeract with the vendor 102 but is not registered to the hub 124, theuser is not recognized at either the local level or the global level. Assuch, the terminal device 114 is configured to instructed the user toregister with the hub 124 and/or the vendor 102 in order to furtherinteract with the vendor 102.

FIG. 2 illustrates an exemplary computing device 200 that can be used inthe system 100 of FIG. 1 . The computing device 200 may include, forexample, one or more servers, workstations, personal computers, tablets,laptops, smartphones, point-of-sale (POS) terminals, etc. In addition,the computing device 200 may include a single computing device, or itmay include multiple computing devices located in close proximity ordistributed over a geographic region, so long as the computing devicesare specifically configured to function as described herein. However,the system 100 should not be considered to be limited to the computingdevice 200, as described below, as different computing devices and/orarrangements of computing devices may be used. In addition, differentcomponents and/or arrangements of components may be used in othercomputing devices.

In the exemplary embodiment of FIG. 1 , each of the terminal device 114,the camera 122, the acquirer institution 106, the payment network 108,and the issuer institution 110 are implemented in and/or include acomputing device generally consistent with the computing device 200,coupled to (and in communication with) the network 112. Further, and asindicated above, the computing device 200 associated with each of theseparts of the system 100, for example, may include a single computingdevice, or multiple computing devices located in close proximity ordistributed over a geographic region, again so long as the computingdevices are specifically configured to function as described herein.

The exemplary computing device 200 includes a processor 202 and a memory204 coupled to (and in communication with) the processor 202. Theprocessor 202 may include one or more processing units (e.g., in amulti-core configuration, etc.). For example, the processor 202 mayinclude, without limitation, a central processing unit (CPU), amicrocontroller, a reduced instruction set computer (RISC) processor, anapplication specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a programmable logicdevice (PLD), a gate array, and/or any other circuit or processorcapable of the functions described herein.

The memory 204, as described herein, is one or more devices that permitdata, instructions, etc., to be stored therein and retrieved therefrom.The memory 204 may include one or more computer-readable storage media,such as, without limitation, dynamic random access memory (DRAM), staticrandom access memory (SRAM), read only memory (ROM), erasableprogrammable read only memory (EPROM), solid state devices, flashdrives, CD-ROMs, thumb drives, floppy disks, tapes, hard disks, and/orany other type of volatile or nonvolatile physical or tangiblecomputer-readable media. In connection therewith, the memory 204 may beconfigured to store, without limitation, transaction data, vendorprofiles, user profiles, payment account credentials, referencebiometrics, vendor product/pricing listings, and/or other types of datasuitable for use as described herein.

Furthermore, in various embodiments, computer-executable instructionsmay be stored in the memory 204 for execution by the processor 202 tocause the processor 202 to perform one or more of the functionsdescribed herein, such that the memory 204 is a physical, tangible, andnon-transitory computer readable storage media. Such instructions oftenimprove the efficiencies and/or performance of the processor 202 that isperforming one or more of the various operations herein (e.g., one ormore of the operations of method 300, etc.), whereby the computingdevice 200 may be transformed into a special-purpose computing device(as indicated below). It should be appreciated that the memory 204 mayinclude a variety of different memories, each implemented in one or moreof the functions or processes described herein.

In the exemplary embodiment, the computing device 200 includes apresentation unit 206 that is coupled to (and that is in communicationwith) the processor 202 (however, it should be appreciated that thecomputing device 200 could include output devices other than thepresentation unit 206, etc. in other embodiments). The presentation unit206 outputs/presents information (e.g., approvals or declines, etc.),for example, visually, audibly, etc., to a user of the computing device200, such as, for example, the user 116, etc. It should be furtherappreciated that various interfaces (e.g., as defined by network-basedapplications, etc.) may be displayed at computing device 200, and inparticular at presentation unit 206, to display such information. Thepresentation unit 206 may include, without limitation, a liquid crystaldisplay (LCD), a light-emitting diode (LED) display, an LED, an organicLED (OLED) display, an “electronic ink” display, speakers, etc. In someembodiments, presentation unit 206 includes multiple devices.

The computing device 200 also includes an input device 208 that receivesinputs from the user (i.e., user inputs), etc. The input device 208 iscoupled to (and is in communication with) the processor 202 and mayinclude, for example, a keyboard, a pointing device, a mouse, a button,a stylus, a touch sensitive panel (e.g., a touch pad or a touch screen,etc.), another computing device, and/or an audio input device. Further,in various exemplary embodiments, a touch screen, such as that includedin a tablet, a smartphone, or similar device, may behave as both thepresentation unit 206 and the input device 208.

In addition, the illustrated computing device 200 further includes anetwork interface 210 coupled to (and in communication with) theprocessor 202 and the memory 204. The network interface 210 may include,without limitation, a wired network adapter, a wireless network adapter,a mobile network adapter, or other device capable of communicatingto/with one or more different networks, including the network 112.Further, in some exemplary embodiments, the computing device 200includes the processor 202 and one or more network interfaces (includingthe network interface 210) incorporated into or with the processor 202.

FIG. 3 illustrates an exemplary method 300 for use in facilitating atransaction for the purchase of a product through an unattended vendor(or unattended terminal device associated with the vendor). The method300 is described with reference to the system 100, and in particular tothe terminal device 114, and with further reference to the computingdevice 200. The methods described herein (including the method 300),however, should not be considered to be limited to the system 100, orthe computing device 200. Likewise, the systems and devices hereinshould not be considered to be limited to the method 300.

At the outset in the method 300, the user 300 is registered with the hub124, as described above with reference to FIG. 1 . As such, a userprofile for the user 116 is stored at the hub 124 and/or the terminaldevice 114, and includes, at least, a biometric of the user 116 (e.g., afacial image of the user 116, etc.) and a payment account credential forthe payment account issued by the issuer institution 110 to the user116.

Consequently in the method 300, when the user 116 approaches the vendor102, the terminal device 114 captures, at 302, one or more images of theuser 116, with the camera 122. The images are generally facial images,but may be otherwise (e.g., the camera 122 and/or one or more otherbiometric sensors may capture fingerprint data for the user 116, etc.).

Upon receipt of the image(s) of the user 116, the terminal device 114performs, at 304, facial recognition on the captured image relative toreference images associated with multiple user profiles assigned to alocal group for the vendor 102 (and stored locally in memory 204 at theterminal device 114, etc.). The facial recognition may be based on amodel specific to the location of the vendor 102 (e.g., at the event104, within a region of the event 104, etc.), whereby the model is basedon data specific to the location of the vendor 102 (e.g., whereby themodel is based on users that have purchased products from the vendor 102previously, transaction data in general related to the purchase ofproducts from the vendor 102, users that have purchased products fromany vendors at the event 104, users that have purchased products atevents within a geographic region including the event 104 (e.g., withina same area code, a same zip code, a same city, etc.), etc.). Inaddition, the model may be based on a list of local users with a highprobability of usage of the vendor 102 (e.g., based on prior purchasesby the users at the vendor 102, or at similar vendors, or involvingsimilar products offered for sale by the vendor 102, or at the event 104or at similar events, etc.). It should be appreciated that the model maybe determined iteratively over time to enable the model to actefficiently within the terminal device 114 (e.g., as consistent with theprocessing capabilities of the terminal device 114, etc.). It shouldfurther be appreciated that the model may be updated and/or generated atthe hub 124 and pulled by, or pushed to, the terminal device 114 at oneor more intervals (regular or irregular).

And, based on the facial recognition, the terminal device 114identifies, at 306, the user 116 (and his/her corresponding userprofile) based on the captured image. This is generally limited to whenthe user 116 is associated with one of the user profiles in the localgroup for the vendor 102 (and stored in the memory 204 at the terminaldevice 114, etc.). Conversely, when the user 116 is not associated withone of the user profiles included in the local group, the terminaldevice 114 optionally requests, at 306 a (as indicted by the dottedlines in FIG. 3 ), identification of the user 116 from the hub 124. Uponreceipt of the request, the hub 124 performs facial recognition, in thisexample, for the captured image against a group of registered userprofiles, for example, the global group, etc. In this manner, the hub124 identifies, at 306 b, the user 116 based on the captured image. Thehub 124 then may retrieve the user profile, or part thereof, from a datastructure (e.g., a Blockchain data structure, etc.), and then, at 306 c,returns the user profile, or a part thereof, for the identified user 116to the terminal device 114.

Regardless of whether the user 116 is identified locally by the terminaldevice 114, or by the hub 124, the terminal device 114 next compiles andtransmits, at 308, a pre-authorization request for a transaction betweenthe user 116 and the vendor 102 to the acquirer institution 106. Thepre-authorization request may include, without limitation, the paymentaccount credential for the user 116 (as obtained from the user profilefor the user 116), a terminal ID for the terminal device 114, vendordata for the vendor 102 (e.g., a name, an address, etc.), acquirer datafor the acquirer institution 106, etc., and also an amount reasonablynecessary for the transaction by the user 116 at the vendor 102 (e.g.,$100, $200, $350, etc.), etc. It should be appreciated that prior to thepre-authorization request, the user 116 may be invited, at the terminaldevice 114, to confirm the user profile for the user 116 and/or the useof a credential included in the user profile, to purchase products fromthe vendor 102. In connection therewith, the user profile may furtherindicate age information associated with the user 116, whereby thevendor 102 may permit more or less products to be available for purchase(e.g., an alcohol purchase for users of legal age, etc.).

The acquirer institution 106, in turn, forwards the pre-authorizationrequest to the payment network 108, at 310, and the payment network 108forwards, at 312, the pre-authorization request to the issuerinstitution 110. Upon receipt, the issuer institution 110 determines, at314, whether to approve or to decline the pre-authorization request. Theissuer institution 110 then compiles and transmits, at 316, apre-authorization reply, indicating the approval or decline of therequest, back to the payment network 108. The payment network 108forwards, at 318, the pre-authorization reply to the acquirerinstitution 106 and, in turn, the acquirer institution 106 forwards, at320 the pre-authorization reply to the terminal device 114.

Upon receipt of the pre-authorization reply, if declined, the terminaldevice 114 is configured to indicate the same to the user 116 at thepresentation unit 206 of the terminal device 114. And, the interactionis generally terminated.

However, if the pre-authorization request is approved, the terminaldevice 114 may display the approval to the user 116 in connection withdata related to the approval (e.g., an authorized amount, etc.) andmanipulates, at 322, the locking mechanism 120 at the container 118 toallow the user 116 to access the container 118. The user 116 is thenpermitted to open a door, cover, etc., and to pull (or remove orotherwise access) one or more products from the container 118 beforeclosing the door, cover, etc. During the user's actions, or when thecover, door, etc., is closed, the terminal device 114 captures images ofthe product(s), at 324, pulled from the container 118. The terminaldevice 114 may capture one image or multiple different images via thecamera 122 (which may include multiple cameras), and identifies theproducts being pulled from the container 118 by the user 116 based onthe captured image(s). The product(s) may be identified based on imagerecognition in combination with a product list included in the terminaldevice 114 for the vendor 102 (e.g., in memory 204, etc.). That is, forexample, rather than identify the product in the abstract, the terminaldevice 114, in this example, is tasked with identifying the products asone of the particular products offered for sale by the vendor 102 (ormore specifically, available from the vendor 102 at the container 118).After the user 116 has completed pulling products from the container118, the terminal device 114 manipulates the locking mechanism 120 tore-secure access to the container 118 and compiles, at 326, a totalamount for purchase of the identified products in the transaction. Theterminal device 114 may then display a price for the transaction to theuser 116.

While only the one container 118 and one locking mechanism 120 is shownin the system 100 (and described in the method 300), it should beappreciated that the container 118 may be associated with multiplelocking mechanisms and/or the vendor 102 may be associated with multiplecontainers each having a locking mechanism, whereby the terminal device114 may be configured to manipulate select ones of the lockingmechanisms based on the approval and based on various additionalconstraints. For example, one locking mechanism may be manipulated forthe user 116 following pre-authorization when the user 116 is less than21 years old (thereby permitting the user 116 to remove products fromthe container associated with the manipulated locking mechanism), whilethe same locking mechanism and another locking mechanism may manipulatedfor the user 116 following pre-authorization when the user is 21 yearsold (thereby permitting the user 116 to remove products from thecontainer that are not age restricted and products from the containerthat are age restricted). It should be appreciated at other constraintsmay be associated with manipulating locking mechanism at the vendor 102in other embodiments (e.g., a reward level, an amount for which the user116 is pre-authorized, etc.).

Then in the method 300, at 328, the terminal device 114 compiles anauthorization request for the transaction (using the payment accountcredential from the user profile for the user 116), including the totalamount for the product(s) and the payment account credential for theuser's payment account, and transmits the authorization request to theacquirer institution 106. As above, the acquirer institution 106, inturn, forwards the authorization request to the payment network 108, at330, and the payment network 108 forwards, at 332, the authorizationrequest to the issuer institution 110. The issuer institution 110accepts, at 334, the transaction, for example, based on thepre-authorization request. The issuer institution 110 in turn compilesand transmits, at 336, an authorization reply for the transaction backto the payment network 108. And, the payment network 108 forwards, at338, the authorization reply to the acquirer institution 106 and, inturn, the acquirer institution 106 forwards, at 340 the authorizationreply to the terminal device 114 (e.g., for storage in memory 204,etc.).

In addition to the above, the terminal device 114 also notifies the hub124 of the transaction, whereby the hub 124 is permitted to compiletransaction data for the transaction, together with other transactionsby registered users to vendors as generally described above. Based onthe transaction and other transactions, then, the hub 124 may adjust thegroups to which the user profile for the user 116 is assigned, asneeded.

Again and as previously described, it should be appreciated that thefunctions described herein, in some embodiments, may be described incomputer executable instructions stored on a computer readable media,and executable by one or more processors. The computer readable media isa non-transitory computer readable storage medium. By way of example,and not limitation, such computer-readable media can include RAM, ROM,EEPROM, CD-ROM or other optical disk storage, magnetic disk storage orother magnetic storage devices, or any other medium that can be used tocarry or store desired program code in the form of instructions or datastructures and that can be accessed by a computer. Combinations of theabove should also be included within the scope of computer-readablemedia.

It should also be appreciated that one or more aspects of the presentdisclosure transforms a general-purpose computing device into aspecial-purpose computing device when configured to perform thefunctions, methods, and/or processes described herein.

As will be appreciated based on the foregoing specification, theabove-described embodiments of the disclosure may be implemented usingcomputer programming or engineering techniques including computersoftware, firmware, hardware or any combination or subset thereof,wherein the technical effect may be achieved by one or more of: (a)capturing, by a terminal associated with the unattended vendor, a facialimage of a user, the user associated with a user profile including acredential associated with an account for the user; (b) identifying, bythe terminal, the user based on the captured facial image of the userand a model specific to a location of the terminal; (c) compiling, bythe terminal, a pre-authorization request including the credentialassociated with the account for the user and a first amount, wherein thefirst amount is disassociated with an input from the user; (d) uponreceipt of an approval in response to the pre-authorization request,manipulating, by the terminal, a locking mechanism coupled to acontainer associated with the unattended vendor to permit access by theuser to products included in the container; (e) capturing, by theterminal, at least one image of at least one product removed, by theuser, from the container; (f) identifying, by the terminal, the at leastone product based on the at least one image; and (g) compiling, by theterminal, an authorization request including the credential associatedwith the account for the user and a second amount, wherein the secondamount is based on a price associated with the identified at least oneproduct, whereby a transaction for the at least one product is funded bythe account.

As will be appreciated based on the foregoing specification, theabove-described embodiments of the disclosure may be implemented usingcomputer programming or engineering techniques including computersoftware, firmware, hardware or any combination or subset thereof,wherein the technical effect may be achieved by one or more of the stepsrecited in the claims.

Exemplary embodiments are provided so that this disclosure will bethorough, and will fully convey the scope to those who are skilled inthe art. Numerous specific details are set forth such as examples ofspecific components, devices, and methods, to provide a thoroughunderstanding of embodiments of the present disclosure. It will beapparent to those skilled in the art that specific details need not beemployed, that example embodiments may be embodied in many differentforms and that neither should be construed to limit the scope of thedisclosure. In some example embodiments, well-known processes,well-known device structures, and well-known technologies are notdescribed in detail.

The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particularexemplary embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting. As usedherein, the singular forms “a,” “an,” and “the” may be intended toinclude the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicatesotherwise. The terms “comprises,” “comprising,” “including,” and“having,” are inclusive and therefore specify the presence of statedfeatures, integers, steps, operations, elements, and/or components, butdo not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features,integers, steps, operations, elements, components, and/or groupsthereof. The method steps, processes, and operations described hereinare not to be construed as necessarily requiring their performance inthe particular order discussed or illustrated, unless specificallyidentified as an order of performance. It is also to be understood thatadditional or alternative steps may be employed.

When an element or layer is referred to as being “on,” “engaged to,”“connected to,” “coupled to,” “associated with,” “included with,” or “incommunication with” another element or layer, it may be directly on,engaged, connected or coupled to, associated with, or in communicationwith the other element or layer, or intervening elements or layers maybe present. As used herein, the term “and/or” and the phrase “at leastone of” includes any and all combinations of one or more of theassociated listed items.

In addition, as used herein, a product may include a service, a good,etc.

Although the terms first, second, third, etc. may be used herein todescribe various features, these features should not be limited by theseterms. These terms may be only used to distinguish one feature fromanother. Terms such as “first,” “second,” and other numerical terms whenused herein do not imply a sequence or order unless clearly indicated bythe context. Thus, a first feature discussed herein could be termed asecond feature without departing from the teachings of the exampleembodiments.

It is also noted that none of the elements recited in the claims hereinare intended to be a means-plus-function element within the meaning of35 U.S.C. § 112(f) unless an element is expressly recited using thephrase “means for,” or in the case of a method claim using the phrases“operation for” or “step for.”

The foregoing description of exemplary embodiments has been provided forpurposes of illustration and description. It is not intended to beexhaustive or to limit the disclosure. Individual elements or featuresof a particular embodiment are generally not limited to that particularembodiment, but, where applicable, are interchangeable and can be usedin a selected embodiment, even if not specifically shown or described.The same may also be varied in many ways. Such variations are not to beregarded as a departure from the disclosure, and all such modificationsare intended to be included within the scope of the disclosure.

What is claimed is:
 1. A computer-implemented method for use infacilitating a transaction for a purchase of a product by a user throughan unattended vendor, the method comprising: in response to a userapproaching a terminal associated with the unattended vendor, capturing,by the terminal, a facial image of the user; searching, by the terminal,for the user, based on the captured facial image of the user and a modelspecific to a location of the terminal, the model based on historictransaction data involving multiple users and specific to a regionincluding the location of the terminal; based on the search not findingthe user: transmitting, by the terminal, a request for a user profileassociated with the user to a hub computing device, wherein the requestincludes the captured facial image of the user; and receiving, from thehub computing device, the user profile, the user profile including acredential associated with an account of the user; in response toreceiving the user profile, compiling, by the terminal, apre-authorization request including the credential associated with theaccount for the user and a first amount, wherein the first amount isdisassociated with an input from the user; transmitting, by theterminal, the pre-authorization request to an issuer associated with theaccount of the user, whereby the issuer is permitted to approve ordecline the pre-authorization request; receiving an approval of thepre-authorization request from the issuer associated with the account ofthe user; based on the approval of the pre-authorization request:displaying, by the terminal, a pre-authorization success message to theuser; and manipulating, by the terminal, a locking mechanism coupled toa container associated with the unattended vendor to permit access bythe user to products included in the container; capturing, by theterminal, at least one image of at least one product removed, by theuser, from the container; identifying, by the terminal, the at least oneproduct based on the at least one image; compiling, by the terminal, anauthorization request including the credential associated with theaccount for the user and a second amount, wherein the second amount isbased on a price associated with the identified at least one product,whereby a transaction for the at least one product is funded by theaccount; and displaying, by the terminal, the second amount to the user.2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the model isassociated with a plurality of user profiles included in a local groupof users for the terminal.
 3. The computer-implemented method of claim1, wherein the at least one product removed, by the user, from thecontainer, is not selected by the user prior to the user removing the atleast one product from the container.
 4. The computer-implemented methodof claim 1, wherein the at least one product removed, by the user, fromthe container, is not identified to the terminal prior to the userremoving the at least one product from the container.
 5. Thecomputer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising manipulating,by the terminal, the locking mechanism to inhibit access to the productsincluded in the container after identifying the at least one product. 6.The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprisingregistering, by the hub computing device, the user prior to capturingthe facial image of the user, whereby the user profile for the user isstored; and transmitting, by the hub computing device, the user profileto the terminal.
 7. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, furthercomprising transmitting the authorization request to the issuer.
 8. Thecomputer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising retrieving,by the terminal, the user profile for the user from memory incommunication with the terminal in response to identifying the userbased on the captured facial image.
 9. The computer-implemented methodof claim 1, further comprising identifying, by the terminal, in responseto receipt of the approval of the pre-authorization request, at leastone restriction associated with the user profile; and based on the atleast one restriction, manipulating, by the terminal, the lockingmechanism to inhibit access to the products included in the container,thereby denying access by the user to products included in the containerassociated with the restriction.
 10. A system for use in facilitating atransaction for a purchase of a product by a user at an unattendedvendor, the system comprising a terminal computing device associatedwith the unattended vendor, the terminal computing device configured to:in response to a user approaching a terminal of the unattended vendor,capture a biometric for the user at the terminal of the unattendedvendor; search for the user based on the captured biometric of the userand a model specific to a location of the terminal, wherein the model isbased on historic transaction data involving multiple users and specificto a region including the location of the terminal; based on the searchnot finding the user: transmit a request, to a hub computing device, fora user profile associated with the user, wherein the request includesthe captured biometric of the user; and receive, from the hub computingdevice, the user profile including a credential associated with anaccount of the user; in response to reception of the user profile,compile a pre-authorization request including the credential associatedwith the account for the user and a first amount, wherein the firstamount is disassociated with an input from the user; transmit thepre-authorization request to an issuer associated with the account ofthe user, whereby the issuer is permitted to approve or decline thepre-authorization request; receive an approval of the pre-authorizationrequest from the issuer associated with the account of the user; basedon the approval of the pre-authorization request: manipulate a lockingmechanism coupled to a container associated with the unattended vendorto permit access by the user to products included in the container; anddisplay a pre-authorization success message to the user; capture atleast one image of at least one product removed, by the user, from thecontainer; identify the at least one product based on the at least oneimage; compile an authorization request including the credentialassociated with the account for the user and a second amount, whereinthe second amount is based on a price associated with the identified atleast one product, whereby a transaction for the at least one product isfunded by the account; and display the second amount to the user. 11.The system of claim 10, wherein the terminal computing device is furtherconfigured to manipulate the locking mechanism to inhibit access to theproducts included in the container after identifying the at least oneproduct.
 12. The system of claim 11, further comprising the containerand the locking mechanism coupled to the container, wherein thecontainer is disposed at a location of the unattended vendor and whereinthe terminal computing device is disposed adjacent the container. 13.The system of claim 12, wherein the biometric for the user includes animage of the user; wherein the system further comprises a cameradisposed adjacent the container, the camera configured to capture theimage of the user at the unattended vendor; and wherein the terminalcomputing device is configured to identify the user based on thecaptured image of the user.
 14. The system of claim 10, furthercomprising the hub computing device in communication with the terminalcomputing device, wherein the hub computing device is configured to:compile the user profile for the user, prior to capture of the biometricfor the user at the unattended vendor; and transmit the user profile tothe terminal computing device.
 15. The system of claim 14, wherein themodel is associated with a plurality of user profiles included in alocal group of users for the terminal computing device; wherein the hubcomputing device is further configured, when the search does not findthe user, to: identify the user based on a plurality of user profilesincluded in a global group of users and stored at the hub; and transmitat least a part of the user profile for the user to the terminal; andwherein the terminal computing device is configured, in connection withcompiling the pre-authorization request, to compile thepre-authorization request based on the received user profile for theuser.
 16. The system of claim 10, further comprising identify, inresponse to receipt of the approval of the pre-authorization request, atleast one restriction associated with the user profile; and based on theat least one restriction, manipulate the locking mechanism to inhibitaccess to the products included in the container, thereby denying accessby the user to products included in the container associated with therestriction.
 17. A non-transitory computer-readable storage mediumincluding executable instructions for facilitating a transaction for apurchase of a product by a user at an unattended vendor, which whenexecuted by at least one processor of a terminal computing device at theunattended vendor, cause the at least one processor to: in response to auser approaching a terminal associated with the unattended vendor,capture a biometric for the user at terminal associated with theunattended vendor; search for the user based on the captured biometricof the user and a model specific to a location of the terminal, themodel being based on historic transaction data involving multiple usersand specific to a region including the location of the terminal; basedon the search not finding the user: transmit a request, to a hubcomputing device, for a user profile associated with the user, whereinthe request includes the captured biometric of the user; and receive,from the hub computing device, the user profile including a credentialassociated with an account of the user; in response to reception of theuser profile, compile a pre-authorization request including thecredential associated with the account for the user and a first amount,wherein the first amount is disassociated with an input from the user;transmit the pre-authorization request to an issuer associated with theaccount of the user, whereby the issuer is permitted to approve ordecline the pre-authorization request; receive an approval of thepre-authorization request from the issuer associated with the account ofthe user; based on the approval of pre-authorization request: manipulatea locking mechanism coupled to a container associated with theunattended vendor to permit access by the user to products included inthe container; and display a pre-authorization success message to theuser; capture at least one image of at least one product removed, by theuser, from the container; identify the at least one product based on theat least one image; compile an authorization request including thecredential associated with the account for the user and a second amount,wherein the second amount is based on a price associated with theidentified at least one product, whereby a transaction for the at leastone product is funded by the account; and display the second amount tothe user.
 18. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium ofclaim 17, wherein the executable instructions, when executed by the atleast one processor, further cause the at least one processor to:transmit the authorization request to the issuer, following the receiptof the approval of the pre-authorization request.
 19. The non-transitorycomputer-readable storage medium of claim 17, wherein the model isassociated with a plurality of user profiles included in a local groupof users for the terminal; wherein the executable instructions, whenexecuted by the at least one processor, further cause the at least oneprocessor, when the search does not find the user, to receive, from ahub computing device associated with the terminal computing device, atleast part of a user profile for the user from a plurality of userprofiles included in a global group of users and stored at the hubcomputing device; and wherein the executable instructions, when executedby the at least one processor in connection with compiling thepre-authorization request, cause the at least one processor to compilethe pre-authorization request based on the received user profile for theuser.
 20. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim17, wherein the at least one product removed, by the user, from thecontainer is not selected by the user prior to the user removing the atleast one product from the container and is not identified to theterminal computing device prior to the user removing the at least oneproduct from the container.